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Apple's much-touted new operating system, OS X Leopard, is in
some ways worse than Windows Vista, says the founder of the Linux
open source project, Linus Torvalds.

Torvalds was in Melbourne last week for the linux.conf.au
conference and was invited to pass judgement on OS X versus Windows
Vista in a wide-ranging interview.

"I don't think they're equally flawed - I think Leopard is a
much better system," he said. "(But) OS X in some ways is actually
worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete
and utter crap, which is scary."

He poured scorn on the modern trend to treat a new version or
update of an operating system as a cause for major celebration and
marketing.

"An operating system should be completely invisible," he said.
"To Microsoft and Apple (it is) a way to control the whole
environment ... to force people to upgrade their applications and
hardware."

As for his own operating system, Linus said the most exciting
developments were Linux's improving green credentials, and a push
into mobile devices such as the One Laptop per Child project and
Asus's new ultra-cheap Eee PC.

The latter, he said, could be a sign that Asian hardware
manufacturers were starting to bypass Western commercial operating
systems in order to get more control over their products.

"That's the primary area that open source (software like Linux)
is useful. Software is really expensive to produce and takes years.
If you're a hardware company you can't really afford that, you
either have to be controlled from the outside or take a
pre-existing software stack that you can make changes to."

Linux would be an obvious choice for anything from full-blown
PCs to phones or video players, Torvalds said.

"I think it's one pretty exciting possibility and it's where the
market really wants to go," he said. "The hardware in a mobile
device now outweighs anything in a desktop 15 years ago - which is
where Linux came from. The (Linux) kernel is already being used in
things like cell phones, but the problems have been in the UI (user
interface)."

He said he finally saw Linux as able to boast genuine green
credentials, after years of hard work.

He and fellow programmers modified almost every part of the
operating system's core to improve power management. They also
enhanced the ability to track down the most power-hungry parts of a
hardware and software system.

"Everybody wants to be power-aware," he said. "It's not just
that you want to be green - it's eating up your batteries."

Linus also praised Google for its contribution to the
development of open source software, after a shaky start in which
it had been a "black hole" for talented programmers.